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THE 



Seyenty-Segond Regiment, 



Pennsylvania Volunteers, 



AT 



Bloody Angle, 



GETTYSBURG. 



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THE 



Seyenty-Segond Regiment, 



Pennsylvania Volunteers, 



AT 



Bloody Anglb, 



GETTYSBURG. 



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COMMITTEE ON MONUMENT. 



John Reed, Sylvester Byrne, 

Frederick Middleton, Julius B. Allen, 

Charles W. Devitt. 



John Reed, Chairman. 

Sylvester Byrne, Secretary. 

Frederick Middleton, Treasurer. 






DIAGRAM OF BLOODY ANGLE, GETTYSBURG. 







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ORDER OF EXERCISES. 



Pennsylvania. Day, September 12th, 1889. 



Dirge, by the Band. 

Prayer, by Rev. William H. Clark, Pastor of the 
Second Reformed. Church in America, 7th and Brown 
Streets, Philadelphia. 

Address, by Comrade John Reed, on behalf of the Monu- 
ment Committee. 

Oration, by Capt. William W. Ker, of the 73d Reg. 
Penna. Vols. 

Salute, three volleys, by the Guard of Post 51 G. A. R. 



ADDRESS, 

BY COMEADE JOHN REED. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : 

It is due to you and to our comrades here assembled, that 
the Monument Committee of the Seventy-Second Regiment 
should explain why our monument remains unbuilt, why we 
are unable to dedicate it, and why we hold these exercises in 
this place to-day. Gettysburg is in Pennsylvania, and the 
battle of Gettysburg was the great and decisive struggle of 
the War of the Rebellion. It is true that regiments and 
commands from other loyal States participated in it, and 
bravely performed their part ; but it was Pennsylvania's 
battle-field, and Pennsylvanians have more than a common 
interest in it. The grounds on which the battle was fought 
are now owned by the Gettysburg Battle-Field Memorial 
Association, which was incorporated " to hold and preserve 
the battle-grounds of Gettysburg, on which were fought the 
actions of the first, second and third days of July, 1863, with 
the natural and artificial defenses, as they were at the time of 
said battle, and by such memorial structures as a generous 
and patriotic people may aid to erect, to commemorate the 
heroic deeds, the struggles and the triumphs of their brave 
defenders ; and to erect and promote the erection, by volun- 
tary contributions, of structures and works of art and taste 
thereon, adapted to designate the spots of special interest, to 
commemorate the great deeds of valor, endurance, and noble 
self-sacrifice, and to perpetuate the memory of the heroes and 
the signal events which render these battle-grounds illus- 
trious." This corporation is composed of shareholders, some 
of whom are citizens of this State and others of other States, 
and is managed by a Board of twenty-one Directors, elected 

5 



6 

by the shareholders, to which are added the Governors of such 
States as shall, by legislative appropriation, contribute funds 
for the support of the Association ; and if the Governor of 
any State is unable to be present at the meetings, he has the 
power to substitute a citizen of his State to represent his 
State. The Legislature of our State has contributed large 
sums of the public money to aid this corporation ; but Penn- 
sylvania has only a voice in common with all the other States 
in the management of its aifairs or the direction of its ^york. 
Around this field you see numbers of monuments and tablets. 
Some of them were erected by the survivors of regiments or 
commands, and others by the Legislatures of States ; but 
each was intended to mark the place where a command fought, 
or to designate a spot of special interest. These monuments 
and tablets are not now the property of the persons or States 
that erected them, but belong to the Memorial Association, 
and may be moved from place to place, at the whim or caprice 
of the Board of Directors; and indeed, I am informed that 
some of them have been moved from their original positions 
to make way for so-called improvements. 

The Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania determined 
to erect monuments of its own to mark the spot where each 
Pennsylvania command was engaged in the battle, and it was 
intended that these monuments should remain the property 
of the State, and should not be in any way under the control 
of the Memorial Association. For this purpose, in 1887 an 
act was passed, requiring the Governor to appoint five Com- 
missioners, to co-operate with five of fhe survivors of each 
Pennsylvania command, and select and locate a monument, 
in bronze or granite, to mark the spot Avhere that command 
was engaged in the battle of Gettysburg, and appropriated 
the sum of fifteen hundred dollars to pay for each monu- 
ment. The five Commissioners were appointed, and myself 
and four others were selected by our comrades of the Seventy- 
Second Pennsylvania to represent our Regiment, and to co- 
operate with the Commissioners in the selection and location 
of our monument. The Commissioners were competent 



gentlemen, who went about their work with great delibera- 
tion, and gave our claims patient and careful consideration. 
There was no difficulty in selecting the monument which you 
see before you, and as the fifteen hundred dollars appropri- 
ated by the Legislature were much less than the contract 
price, our comrades contributed the necessary amount. There 
were many witnesses — probably fifty of them — examined, 
and a great deal of testimony was taken by the Commission- 
ers to enable them to determine the proper location, some of 
the witnesses being our own men and others being men from 
other regiments and Cushing's Battery, but all of them being 
men who were present at the battle and saw what they testi- 
fied to; and after hearing the testimony and proofs, the 
Commissioners unanimously decided that here in this angle was 
the place where we fought, Avas the place where we were en- 
gaged in the battle, and that our monument should be erected 
upon this spot. It is generally supposed that the Legisla- 
ture of our State has the right to erect a public building, or 
a public monument, and to designate the person who shall 
erect it, and the spot upon which it shall be erected, and to 
take the land of any citizen or corporation for that purpose ; 
but when we notified the Memorial Association of the place 
selected by the Commissioners, and asked for a permit to 
build it there, the Board of Directors refused to give it, 
claiming that they had a right to overrule the decision of the 
Commissioners, that they had the right to select any other 
spot, that they were the owners of the land, and that no per- 
son, not even the State of Pennsylvania, had a right to erect 
a monument on that land without their consent. They did 
make some concession, for they informed us that they would 
permit us to erect our monument away back there, 283 feet 
in the rear. You see they have laid out a carriage-drive 
along there, which they call Hancock Avenue, and they want 
us to put our monument on the other side of that Avenue, 
so that people can drive along and see all the monuments 
without getting out of their carriage. Of course we would 
not accommodate them by putting our monument on a spot 



where we never fought, and wheu we attempted to dig a 
foundation here without a permit, I was arrested for trespass, 
and am now under bail to answer that charge. Our counsel 
filed a bill in equity asking for an injunction restraining them 
from interfering with us, and the Supreme Court decided the 
case in our favor. We thought our troubles were all over ; 
but the Memorial Association has plenty of money, and its 
Board of Directors are determined to make us put our monu- 
ment back on that Avenue, if they possibly can. They now 
come forward with a new claim. They admit that 210 of 
our men fell in the battle ; but they allege that we lost all 
our men away back in the rear, that we were never here at 
all, that the Commissioners were mistaken in selecting this 
location, and that a Massachusetts Regiment and a New York 
Regiment did the fighting for the Philadelphia Brigade. 
They say they can prove all this, and they ask the Court to 
wait, and give them a chance to do it ; so we must wait till 
they have had that chance. We are fighting a powerful cor- 
poration ; it will take a little time, but we have no fear of 
the result. We will triumph in the end, and will erect and 
dedicate our monument on this spot, that has been solemnly 
selected by the Commissioners under the laws of our State. 

We concluded to hold some kind of exercises, in common 
with our comrades of other regiments, and through the kind 
efforts of His Excellency, Governor Beaver, we have been 
permitted to temporarily erect our monument on this spot, 
and to hold these exercises here to-day, and we assure you we 
heartily thank Governor Beaver for securing us the uninter- 
rupted enjoyment of this privilege. 

Our Regiment was composed of 15 Companies, and carried 
1,600 men on its rolls. We lost heavily in previous engage- 
ments, but our heaviest loss was here in this angle at the 
battle of Gettysburg, where 360 men were engaged, and 210 
of them were either killed or wounded. We have here 
to-day 120 of the survivors of the Regiment, and two out of 
every three of the men that are now here were wounded either 
in that battle or in one of the others. We are determined 



9 

that our mouument shall be erected upon this spot, and we 
will never yield unless overcome by the power of the law, to 
whose decrees, whether just or unjust, all good citizens bow 
in obedience. 

Before closing I desire to return our thanks to our counsel, 
J. C. Neely, Esq., of Gettysburg, and William W. Wilt- 
bank and William W. Ker, Esqs., of Philadelphia. To Mr. 
Wiltbank and Mr. Ker we feel especially grateful, for those 
gentlemen have espoused our cause, have devoted their time, 
talents, and energy in our behalf, have refused all compensa- 
tion from us, and will continue to labor to secure us the right 
and justice we value beyond price. Mr. Wiltbank has been 
detained by professional engagements, and we regret that he 
is not with us to-day, but when we are permitted to dedicate 
our monument, he will be with us, and will receive the heartfelt 
thanks and congratulations of every survivor of the Seventy- 
Second Regiment. 

Mr. Ker is with us, and I now have the pleasure to intro- 
duce to you, as the orator on this occasion, our counsel and 
our friend, Capt. William W. Ker. 



ORATION, 

BY CAPT. WILLIAM W. KER. 

Comrades : 

The Volunteer Firemen of the City of Philadelphia were 
patriotic, intelligent and brave. Yon were fit and worthy 
representatives of that organization. When you offered 
yourselves to the Governor of our State, you were young, 
strong, and inured to hardships and danger. No better ma- 
terial could be found in the world from which to form an 
army. You were mustered into the service of the United 
States on August 10th, 1861, and Col. D. W. C. Baxter was 
your first commander. Officially you were designated as the 
72d Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, but familiarly you 
were called " Baxter's Fire Zouaves." You were assigned to 
duty in the Second Corps in the Array of the Potomac, and 
from March, 1862, your fortunes and your fame were identi- 
fied with that gallant Corps. The siege of Yorktown was a 
series of engagements ; the battles at Fair Oaks, on May Slst, 
and June 1st, 1862, were followed by Peach Orchard, Savage 
Station, Glendale, Malvern Hill, Chantilly, Antietam, 
Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. You participated in 
them all. You gained in them experience, honor, credit and 
renown. You were tried and trusted veterans of the Union 
army. 

On the 1st day of July, 1863, you numbered 23 officers and 
435 men. You formed part of the 2d Brigade of the 2d 
Division of the 2d Corps. That was the famous " Philadel- 
phia Brigade," commanded by that equally famous soldier, 
Brigadier-General Alexander S. Webb. He was leading you 
on to Gettysburg, to drive the invading enemy from your 
native State. 

10 



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As we stand here to-day, our thoughts carry us back to the 
1st, 2d and 3d days of July, 1863. For twenty-six years 
Summer has succeeded Summer, yet the scenes and occurrences 
of those days are as vivid and bright as though it were but 
yesterday. They pass before you, in panoramic view. You 
recall the weary march from the Rappahannock, the crossing 
of the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, the kind and hospitable 
reception at Uuiontown, the halt at Taueytown on July 1st, 
the sad news of the death of Reynolds and defeat of the 1st 
and 11th Corps, the midnight march to Gettysburg, the 
forming of the line of battle on the morning of July 2d, the 
attack by the enemy in the afternoon, the loss of Brown's 
Battery, your counter-charge to the Emmettsburg Road, the 
recovery of Brown's guns, the wounding of Col. Baxter, the 
i-e-forming of your lines, the little spring in the rear where 
you filled your canteens and cooked your coffee, your rest- 
less sleep behind your stacked rifles, and the bright and 
glorious breaking of the morning of the day of July 3d. 

Let us pause here, for the scene approaches the reality. 
Here again you see the same low stone fence. It is angle- 
shaped — something like a huge letter Z traced upon the 
ground, only the angles are right angles — the bottom line ex- 
tending towards Cemetery Hill on the right, the centre line 
running some 260 feet to the front, and the front line reach- 
ing towards Little Round-Top on the left. Out in front of 
these angles are two companies of the 106th Pennsylvania, 
deployed as skirmishers. Behind the angles are posted Cush- 
ing's Battery and your Philadelphia Brigade. Along the 
rear line of the fence are eight companies of the 71st Penn- 
sylvania, their right connecting with Arnold's Battery and 
their left resting at the corner of the angle ; the centre line of 
the fence, from corner to corner of the angle, is unoccupied ; 
along the front line of the fence are the other two companies 
of the 71st, their right close up in the corner ; then to their 
left the fence is again unoccupied for the distance of 274 feet ; 
and then comes the right of the 69th Pennsylvania. There, 
to the rear of the front fence, forming a line parallel Mith the 



12 

rear fence, is Battery A of the 4th U. S. Artillery — the re- 
nowned " Cushing's Battery " — with the muzzles of its guns 
pointing over the front fence at the unoccupied space between 
the right of the 69th and the left of the two companies of 
the 71st. There, behind the Battery, and 270 feet behind 
the front fence, is your 72d Regiment, in line of battle to 
support the Battery. And there, between you and the 
Battery, is General Webb, slowly pacing up and down, keep- 
ing careful watch over his little Brigade. 

This is your position at high noon. The Confederate bat- 
terries suddenly open fire. Every gun is hurling a missile 
into the Union ranks. The Union artillery replies. There 
you lie with your faces close to the ground. The storm of 
iron hail is flying around you, but you are helpless and un- 
protected. The air is filled with flying shot and bursting 
shells, and the roar drowns all other sounds. The crash is 
blinding, and the shock is deafening. The cannoneers are 
falling at their posts, and Cushing's Battery is fast being dis- 
abled. For an hour and a quarter, and the firing ceases, first 
on the Union side, then on the Confederate side. The first 
part of the great struggle is over. 

Now the Confederate line of battle appears, moving rapidly 
over the field. They cross the Emmettsburg Road, and you 
see their faces. They are Pickett's men, the flower of the 
Southern army. Again the artillery opens, and cannon and 
musketry are mingled in a deafening roar. The Confederates 
never falter, never waver. On they come, confident of vic- 
tory. They are led by Armistead. He is seeking a place to 
break through the Union lines. He sees Cushing's disabled 
Battery, the unoccupied fence, and urges his men rapidly 
towards it. 

The skirmishers of the 106th run to the rear, and are 
hastily formed on your left flank. The two companies of 
the 71st retire from the front angle, and join their Regiment 
at the rear. The right of the 69tli swings back on its centre. 
Cushing's Cannoneers are piled among the ruins of their dis- 
abled guns ; Sergeant Feiger and half a dozen of the men 



13 

are all that are left; one gun alone remains ; it is loaded with 
cannister, and Gushing, Feiger and their men are around it ; 
they move it to the front, closer to the fence, and take their 
places beside it. The fence in the front angle is wholly un- 
occupied. There is nothing to check the Confederate ad- 
vance, save only that lone cannon and the heroic men beside it. 

The Confederates reach the fence. Armistead jumps over 
it. Twelve hundred of his men follow him. They rush 
upon the gun. A sheet of flame from its muzzle, a deafening 
report, the brave young Lieutenant falls lifeless upon the 
ground, and Cushing's Battery is silenced forever. The Con- 
federates have captured the angle. The Union army is cut in 
two at its centre. The Confederates wave their flags in tri- 
umph, and again press forward. 

There you still lie — three hundred and sixty of you — 
crouching close to the ground. You know that your time 
has now come. You see the enemy advancing upon you in 
overwhelming numbers. You know that alone and un- 
supported you must meet the attack. Your hearts are 
filled with bitterness, and you are eager for the fray. You 
look to General Webb for the expected command. You see 
his lips moving, but can hear no sound. He points his sword 
to the right, then waves it towards the enemy. You are 
well -trained soldiers, and understand his signs. You know 
that he wants you to march by the right face closer to the 
71st in the rear angle, then face to the left, and charge down 
upon the enemy. You spring to your feet. Away go haver- 
sacks and canteens. You face to the right, run quickly for- 
ward to the 7 1st, and face again to the left. Your courage 
is contagious. Some brave men of the 71st and ] 06th, un- 
bidden, jump into line with you on your flanks. There stand 
the enemy, their bayonets bristling and their rifles smoking. 
They are waiting for you — for this handful of men against 
such fearful odds. One savage yell that rises above the din 
of battle, one wild and tumultuous rush, and you are upon 
them, discharging your rifles in their faces, beating their 
bayonets from their guns, and tearing their guns from their 



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hands. With the ferocity of madness you leap upon them, 
clutch them by their throats, bury your bayonets in their 
bodies and hurl them to the earth. Mounted on their pros- 
trate bodies, the butts of your guns descend relentlessly, 
crushing them down before you. Slowly they retire, surging 
back into the corner in the angle. Their colors are still 
flying. They are yet unconquered. A color-bearer plants 
the flag of Virginia at the fence, and his comrades are rally- 
ing around it ; like a tiger McCuen springs upon him, and 
wrenches the colors from his grasp. A short struggle, a ter- 
rific blow, and McBride is waving the second flag. A thrust 
of the bayonet, a crushing blow on the head, and two Zou- 
aves are struggling to reach the rear with two otlier flags. 
The colors of the enemy are captured. The Virginians make 
a desperate rush for their colors. Again you are upon them 
with the fury of demons. Again your guns and your bay- 
onets deal death and destruction in their ranks. They fall 
before you in great piles, wounded and dead. Armistead has 
fallen at the feet of your color-bearer. Their leader is gone, 
their colors are lost. Disheartened and dismayed, they drop 
their arms. Eight hundred of them surrender. Four stands 
of colors, and eight hundred prisoners. Every Confederate 
who has crossed the fence is dead, wounded or captured. Not 
a man of them has escaped. The Confederate army is cut in 
two. Away to your right and to your left they fly before 
your victorious comrades. The battle is over. 

The ground is covered with the wounded, the dying and 
the dead. From the front fence to the centre, the bodies of 
your Zouaves lie close and thick. Sixty-two of them are 
dead, 146 are wounded, and two are missing. Two hundred 
and ten of your brave comrades have ceased to answer at your 
roll-call. One hundred and fifty of you are left. 

To this place, this unknown spot, you have given name and 
fame. It is recorded in history. " The Bloody Angle at 
Gettysburg." 

Survivors of the 72d, you have selected a monument to 
mark the position of your Regiment engaged in the battle of 



15 

Gettysburg on that day. It has been cast in bronze. It rep- 
resents a Zouave, with his gun clubbed in his hands, striking 
at his enemy. It is an appropriate design, an illustrative 
image. On this spot you fought, you bled, and your com- 
rades died. On this spot, you claim it is your right to erect 
and build your yet unbuilt monument. Who is it that gain- 
says your claim ? What power would rob you of your right ? 
By the memories of your saintly dead, we pledge ourselves to 
stand together to maintain your sacred right ; and with the 
help of the Almighty God who aided and assisted you then, 
and who guards and protects you still, we will erect and build 
this monument on this spot, and will dedicate it to the mem- 
ory of the glory, the valor and the heroism of Philadelphia's 
faithful Fire Zouaves. 



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